Unlucky Roma Held Juve at Olympico

byDavidonDecember 12, 2011

Juventus still maintain their unbeaten record in the league this season but they received a very close call at Olympico when the home team, As Roma, failed to steal a victory after Francesco Totti missed a penalty kick.

The result was enough though to take the Bianconeri in the top of Serie A, albeit having the same point as Udinese, but Antonio Conte’s team have a much better goal difference than Francesco Guidolin’s team.

Playing without several injured players, mainly in their defense line, As Roma were actually playing with lots of guts and quality right from the kick off as their make shift team managed to equal Juventus’ power. The home team took the lead just after six minutes through Daniele De Rossi, after the Italian international midfielder side footed Francesco Totti’s wonderful cross from the right side of Juventus’ defense.

The Bianconeri were stunned by Roma’s goal and immediately puts the pressure on the home team’s defense which consist of some major fix up with De Rossi acting as an emergency center back alongside Gabriel Heinze. Despite creating scares at the Giallorossi’s back line, Juventus players can’t seem to breakthrough the Roman wall, which surprisingly was playing really solid in the first 45 minutes.

Juventus continue their raid in the second half, but it was never a one way traffic as Roma also created their chances through counter attack, led by Totti and Eric Lamela. However, apparently lady luck still won’t move away from the Turin giant as they did managed to get an equalizing goal just after an hour mark through Giorgio Chiellini header, which came after a miss kick by Estigarribia which caused a mess inside the penalty area, allowing the towering defender to head the ball passed Marteen Stekelenburg.

However, Roma should have re-taken their lead just a minute after Chiellini’s equalizer after they earned a penalty kick, which was given after Arturo Vidal made a clumsy sliding challenge on Lamela inside the penalty area. Unfortunately, Totti surprisingly missed the spot kick after his shot was comfortably saved by Gianluigi Buffon, lifting the away team’s spirit in the match as the Roman captain left in despair.

There were still several goal scoring chances created by both sides until the final whistle but no more goals were added into the match, forcing the tie to end in a draw. Another sight of relief for Conte’s team as once again they somehow escaped a defeat and continue their wonderful untouchable record in the league, despite not making much ground in the league table.